α-Mangostin exhibits antidepressant-like effects mediated by the modification of GABAergic, serotonergic and dopaminergic systems

Abstract

The present study explored the antidepressant-like activity of α-mangostin (α-MG) and the possible mechanism in this process in the tail suspension test (TST) in mice. The results revealed that α-MG (5 mg/kg, i.p.) exhibited markedly antidepressant-like activity, which could be reversed by pretreatment with haloperidol (a non-selective D₂ receptor antagonist), bicuculline (a competitive GABA antagonist), p-chlorophenylalanine (an inhibitor of 5-HT synthesis). Meanwhile, α-MG also effectively increased the brain DA, 5-HT and GABA levels in mice exposed to TST, indicating that the antidepressant-like effect of α-MG might be mediated by the GABAergic, serotonergic and dopaminergic systems.

Keywords:

• α-mangostin
• antidepressant-like effect
• tail suspension test
• GABAergic
• serotonergic
• dopaminergic

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the National Key R&D Program (grant No. 2016YFC0500303), the Special Fund for Agro-scientific Research in the Public Interest (grant No. 201303111). We declare that there are no financial or other contractual agreements that might cause conflicts of interest or be perceived as causing conflicts of interest.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.